4.13.2011

﻿ Grab "The Windsor Knot" signature cocktail and let's walk over to the South Terrace for William and Kate’s American Royal Wedding on the Biltmore Estate. In case you just joined us, I’ve teamed up with wedding consultants at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC to give you a front row seat to a royal wedding, American style. I asked the estate, “What would you do if you had the opportunity to host Prince William and Catherine Middleton’s wedding?” I’ve had the most fun planning this fantasy wedding on this side of the Atlantic. This post will give you a look back at the wedding and cocktail hour we planned.

The South Lawn is adjacent to the 250-room Renaissance French Chateau. Maura Scarmack, Senior Catering Sales Manager for Biltmore Estate, said she felt if they were to host the royal couple’s wedding that “a formal, plated meal seems the most appropriate for a regal affair.” The Biltmore Estate builds the reception site from the ground up, and the wedding team can turn an outside space into a lavish banquet hall that looks like something out of a fairytale.

Scarmack gave me an entire packet on menu options. The food selection is incredible, and the packet is just a guide. The catering team can work to tailor a menu that reflects your taste and style. The per person catering quote that I was given includes alcoholic beverages for up to four hours of service. Biltmore operates its own winery, and can help you pick the best Biltmore wines to go with your gourmet selections. I think it is wonderful to have the cost per person price to include alcoholic beverages because many times that is an additional expense, and the final cost is not known until the conclusion of the wedding. Sometimes you can get a little budget surprise!

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For our fantasy reception, my original price per person quote was $215 dollars (ages 21 and up) and that price includes up to four hours of alcoholic beverages, three butlered-passed canapes for the cocktail hour, a three-course seated dinner, custom wedding cake, champagne toast, and selection of coffees and teas. Of course, the best thing about this wedding is there is NO budget, and I've added so many fun things that I would be over that original packet quote. I added a fourth canape to the cocktail hour, and at the expert advice of Scarmack, I'm incorporating an intermezzo course into this royal celebration. I am also using the team's guidance to tailor a surf and turf entree. I have read that Prince William, and Catherine Middleton both like salmon and Scarmack tells me that the grilled filet of beef is also a crowd pleaser. For this wedding, I decided to give guests a vegetarian entree option. I turned one of the appetizer selections into an entree, but when hosting a real wedding, your choices would be endless and they would work with your dietary needs accordingly.

The Royal Reception Menu

Appetizer

Jumbo Lump Crab Cake, Smoked Tomato Fondue Lemon Frisee

Salad

Mixed Greens Bundle, Gorgonzola, Pecans, Pears, Champagne Vinaigrette

Intermezzo Course

Champagne Rose Sorbet

Entrees

Petit Filet of Beef and Seared Atlantic Salmon, Sauce Charon,

Haricot Vert, Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes﻿
or

Potato Gnocchi, Spinach, Tomato, and Roasted Garlic

Biltmore Estate Wines Served with Dinner

Biltmore Estate Chardonnay North Carolina

Biltmore Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon Alexander Valley

An example of a cake made by Biltmore Pastry Chefs

The cake choices at Biltmore sound so delicious. Pastry chef favorites are a hazelnut cake with chocolate truffle filling﻿, a chocolate cake with raspberry preserve flavored buttercream filling, and a white cake with chocolate buttercream. Scarmack says the fondant icing is imported from Switzerland. Can you say yum? I think it would be terribly hard to narrow down the choices. I'm going to choose the hazelnut cake with chocolate truffle filling for this occasion. I don't think I can go wrong with any choice!

After lots of dancing, we are going to end this fantasy royal wedding with a BANG. Scarmack says that newlyweds can even have fireworks over the mansion as a finale to their big day. She also suggested something fun like a late night snack for guests as the reception begins to wind down.
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Official Portrait/Testino

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With the Queen retiring to her quarters, all the young lads for our fantasy wedding will finish the evening with miniature cottage pies, appetizer-sized fish and chips, banana flan, and sticky toffee pudding cake all of which are rumored to be favorites of the royal bride and groom. That's what I've read, but it's not like I really know the couple, but I certainly remember when the groom was born and that is making me feel old! Nonetheless, I have enjoyed planning their royal American wedding and you can bet I'll be watching the real nuptials on April 29th with my tea and scones.

My thanks to the Biltmore Estate for helping me with this fun post. The Biltmore Estate can plan a wedding of any size from as intimate as twenty guests to as grand as five hundred. There are more than fifteen locations on the estate that would be ideal for a wedding reception, and I can assure you that I would love to attend a wedding reception at all of them. You can learn more about Biltmore weddings at this link. You have to watch the two movies. They bring tears to my eyes. Oh my, I love a good wedding!

Until next time, I"m off to count the days until the real royal wedding.

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Meet Leigh Hines

Leigh Powell Hines, a former TV Journalist/Communications Executive, combined motherhood and her journalism experience and started The Hines-Sight Blog, a lifestyle/travel blog to inspire parents to pack their bags for family travels. On her blog, hotels are just as important as the destination. As founder of#OutaboutNC, an online social media community, she guides visitors to the best places to see, eat, and stay in North Carolina. She loves simple food, hotels and wellness. Even though she has a soft spot for luxury vacations, she has to budget like everyone else and is always searching for that lux deal.